


Let The Human In

by tonylovedthestarstoofondly



Series: Stars' Tumblr Fills 2019 [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Basiphobia, Civil War Team Iron Man, Claustrophobia, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, This can be read either platonic or romantic which is why I tagged both, implied - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 13:27:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18235529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonylovedthestarstoofondly/pseuds/tonylovedthestarstoofondly
Summary: Those who suffer in silence don't always have to





	Let The Human In

**Author's Note:**

> A curious thing I found is that the fandom in general rarely talks about the tramua of POC characters. So therefore, I decided to write a little piece on Rhodey's tramua. My first, but not last.

“Breathe.”

He’s still falling, he’s trapped and everything is dark-

“Rhodey. Breathe in  _now_.”

A command. Rhodey follows it, sucking in air, breaking out in a coughing fit when his lungs actually get air.

“There we go. Copy me.”

A hand, threading through his, pressing it against a chest. He picks up the scent of hot metal. Tony. The breath out is loud and pointed, and Rhodey follows.

In. Out.

Repeat.

The world comes back together, him sprawled on the floor, half on Tony as he kneels beside him.

They stay, wrapped together. The Compound is deathly silent, a tomb of memories and regrets.

“Wanna talk about it?” Tony’s arm is around him, fingers tapping what Rhodey knows is the first line of JARVIS’ code. Again and again.

It’s been years, but the ache has not dulled for either of them.

That’s why Rhodey is here, lying in front of the War Machine armour. Because the first lesson he’s taught Tony all those years ago, the one his Mama taught him as a black man in a whites country was that you always get back up.

He needs this, needs to get back in the armour.

Needs to protect Tony, because he hadn’t before, he’d failed him again and again. He wasn’t  _enough_.

And Tony has ended up in Siberia, left alone with a broken literal and figurative heart.

“You’re thinking too hard honey bear.” Tony shifted, looking at him with eyes far too old and too broken. “Spill. I thought you weren’t gonna try this without me.”

“I had a nightmare.” Rhodey said. There’s no one here, no one except FRIDAY and Tony. No one to see how goddamn  _weak_  he is. “Back at MIT.”

“Fun days huh?” Tony said teasingly, but he doesn’t smile. Knows it’s not anything good.

“I made you a promise.” Rhodey said. His voice rasps. Had he been crying? Tony stiffened, knowing what Rhodey was trying to say like always. But he continued. “I told you I was gonna protect you.”

“You have.” Tony said, and Rhodey shook his head. Shame and loathing wells up, sour and savage.

“Not in any way that really counted.” Rhodey said. “Not when you have to deal with this shit over and over and over and I can’t ever stop it.”

“We’re superheroes, gum drop.” Tony said. There’s no hope in that smile, the last bit of wonder at the idea snuffed out long before Vision had got to him in that bunker. “This is how the world works. It doesn’t stop coming at us just because we want it to.”

“I don’t care about the world.” Rhodey said. Half truth, half lie. “Why is it that every time someone takes a hit, it’s you?”

“I don’t think it was just me this time sour patch.” Tony said, tracing a finger on Rhodey’s knee. Not that he could feel it.

“I don’t regret this.” Rhodey said wearily. “I told you. This…this is nothing but a punch that knocked me flat. I just…” A glance up. The armour stood waiting, softly glowing internally. He hadn’t even made it in. “I should be stronger than this.” He can see Tony begin to frown. “I can walk again, I can fly again. And I can’t…I can’t get in.”

“You won’t fall again.” Tony’s promise is solid, and Rhodey  _knows_. He worked on the specs with Tony, knows all the parachutes, the backup reactor nodes hidden under the plating. The armour is better suited up to withstand an apocalypse now. Theres no way he could be trapped either, even without the flight suit that Rhodey had made on top of the upgrades.

Yet he couldn’t get in.

“I’ve fallen so many times before.” Rhodey murmured.

“You don’t need the suit to be a hero.” Tony said, and Rhodey choked on a laugh. How many times had Rhodey said that to him, after the nightmares, after Tony’s insecurity. “And you…honey bear, I know you. This is just another thing that tripped you. You’re gonna get back up, and we’re gonna work a way around this.”

The world wasn’t fair. It hadn’t been when Rhodey grew up, hadn’t been when he’d realized that people saw skin color first. It hadn’t been when he’d learned that sometimes the other person punched harder. Hadn’t been when he’d joined as a soldier and watched people die in front of him over and over again. Hadn’t been when Carol had disappeared into nowhere, when Tony had disappeared into the desert, when he’d disappeared into a portal when Happy and Pepper nearly died at a madman’s whims.

But when you get knocked down.

You get back up.

Breathe In. Breathe out.

 

“I was thinking we should look into nanobots.”

Tony’s smile is exhausted and weak, but it’s genuine.

“Let’s do it.”

One inch at a time.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to headcanon that Rhodey has his own nanobot armour stored in his leg braces and no one can tell me otherwise. You can find me on Tumblr @ tonylovedthestarstoofondly if you want to send in a prompt or tell me your favorite fruit.


End file.
